Een principieel-pragmatische visie op institutioneel OER-beleid

Photo by Ethan Dow on Unsplash

Deze blog is een coproductie van Ben Janssen (OpenEd Consult) en mij. Version in English.

Al jaren bepleiten wij de adoptie van open leermaterialen (Open Educational Resources, OER) in het Nederlandse (bekostigde) onderwijs. Een onderzoek dat we beiden hebben uitgevoerd in 2017 wees uit dat adoptie door de early en late majority van docenten nog niet grootschalig gebeurt (Schuwer & Janssen, 2018). En nog steeds is de graad van adoptie van OER in het Nederlandse (bekostigde) hoger onderwijs in onze ogen te laag om effect te hebben. Er zijn meer dan voldoende aanwijzingen om te mogen stellen dat gebruik van OER meervoudige positieve innovatieve effecten op en in het hoger onderwijs kunnen hebben (zie b.v. (Orr, Rimini & Van Damme, 2015)). Dit is onderkend in en door het Versnellingsplan Onderwijsinnovatie met ICT (afgekort tot het Versnellingsplan). Daarin is een van de hoofdthema’s inzet van digitale (open) leermaterialen.

In het Versnellingsplan werken instellingen, SURF en de VSNU en VH samen aan benutten van de kansen die digitalisering aan het hoger onderwijs in Nederland biedt. De missie van het Versnellingsplan is om binnen de eigen instelling én in samenwerking met andere universiteiten en hogescholen, substantiële stappen te zetten op het gebied van digitalisering in het hoger onderwijs in Nederland.

Het Versnellingsplan is opgedeeld in acht Versnellingszones, waarbinnen 39 universiteiten en hogescholen samenwerken op thema’s als professionalisering van docenten, gebruik van studiedata, flexibilisering van het onderwijs, aansluiting op de arbeidsmarkt en de inzet van digitale (open) leermaterialen. In de zone “Gezamenlijk koersen op versnelling” (kortweg het Koersteam) voeren zeventien bestuurders van hogescholen en universiteiten een bestuurlijk gesprek over digitalisering in het hoger onderwijs, met speciale aandacht voor de thema’s van het Versnellingsplan. Meer informatie over het Versnellingsplan.

In 2020 heeft het onderzoeksbureau ResearchNed (met als hoofdonderzoeker Ben Janssen) in opdracht van het Koersteam een onderzoek uitgevoerd naar de stand van zaken rond gebruik van digitale leermaterialen in het Nederlandse hoger onderwijs. Op basis van de uitkomsten heeft een werkgroep van de zone Naar digitale (open) leermaterialen van het Versnellingsplan (waaraan Robert Schuwer deelnam) een visiedocument op digitale leermaterialen opgesteld met een horizon van 2025.

Op basis van de resultaten van beide exercities werkt het Koersteam aan twee thema’s:

  1. Komen tot een landelijke set van afspraken met uitgevers van digitale leermaterialen over o.a. gebruik en eigenaarschap van gebruiksdata
  2. Formuleren en implementeren van een volwaardig open alternatief voor commerciële leermaterialen

Voor het tweede thema is het nodig dat instellingen een visie en beleid op open leermaterialen ontwikkelen.

In een serie blogs zullen wij argumenten aandragen die van belang kunnen zijn bij het formuleren van zo’n visie en beleid. Hoewel we ons daarbij primair richten op instellingen voor hoger onderwijs denken we dat ze ook van nut kunnen zijn voor koepelorganisaties, SURF en het Ministerie van OCW. We baseren ons daarbij op een principiële invalshoek op open leermaterialen, maar streven ook naar zoveel mogelijk pragmatiek daarin om directe toepasbaarheid van de argumenten zo groot mogelijk te maken.

In de komende weken zullen we blogs publiceren over de volgende onderwerpen:

  1. Waar hebben het over als we het hebben over digitale leermaterialen? Een voorstel voor ordening.
  2. Wat speelt rond open leermaterialen? Een systeembenadering
  3. Waarom zijn open leermaterialen van belang? De waarde van open leermaterialen vanuit verschillende optieken
  4. De noodzaak van visie en beleid met betrekking tot open leermaterialen op instellingsniveau en op communityniveau

Referenties

Orr, D., Rimini, R., & Van Damme, D. (2015). Educational research and innovation open educational resources a catalyst for innovation: A catalyst for innovation. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264247543-en

Schuwer, R., & Janssen, B. (2018). Adoption of sharing and reuse of open resources by educators in higher education institutions in The Netherlands: A qualitative research of practices, motives, and conditions. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning19(3). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v19i3.3390

Fontys symposium ICT In Practice

On 4 February my department, the School of ICT of Fontys University of Applied Sciences, organises its annual symposium ICT In Practice. This year it will be  online for well-known reasons. Get inspired by practice-based research on topics like Artificial Intelligence, Data Services, Robots and Applied Games. Contributions will be presented in English. Participation is free, but requires registration on the website of the symposium. Here you also can find more information.

I have organized two sessions under the theme Human Capital. In the session Micro-credentialing and Open Badges, the analysis Towards a European approach to micro-credentials of the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sports and Culture of the European Commission will be presented by the lead author, Dominic Orr (Adj. Prof. for Educational Management, Nova Gorica University in Slovenia). Henk van de Heuvel (Fontys) will reflect on the consequences and opportunities of this analysis for Fontys and Cees van Tilborg will give a presentation about a first implementation of open badges in the programme of Fontys School of ICT.

The second session is devoted to the value of a Community of Practice for the sustainable creation and sharing of open educational resources. Findings and future directions of an initiative in the field of Nursing will be discussed between project leader Marja Versantvoort (Fontys) and myself, led by discussion leader Ben Janssen (OpenEd Consult). Special attention will be paid to the value of connecting working professionals to such a Community of Practice, their role and how to accomplish that. Background information about this initiative is available here (in Dutch).

In both sessions, participants can discuss with the presenters about the opportunities and challenges they identify.

 

OEGlobal Conference 2020, a personal impression

This year’s edition of the OEGlobal conference was, for reasons well-known, transformed to a fully online event that took place from 16-20 November. For this occasion, they had divided the world into three timezones, where each timezone was hosted by an institution. Almost all presentations were recorded and each presentation had its own thread on a social platform, connected to this conference. That made it possible to offer a program running from 2:00 – 23:30, where the recordings and the different time-different place discussion opportunities made it possible to virtually participate, even if you had missed the presentation. I consider that as one of the main gains of a fully online conference, next to the low costs for participation that makes the conference more accessible for everyone. On the flipside however really connecting like in the usual offline events was much harder and, I guess, even more for participants new to this conference. For next years occasion in Nantes (France), maybe a hybrid form could combine the best of both worlds.

In the remainder my personal impression of the conference and the things that caught my eye. Links to the presentations are available at the end of this post.

The conference paid a lot of attention to the role of “open” to achieve greater inclusivity and equity in education. This trend has been going on for some time, but this year it seems to gain even more attention and importance as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. It is not only about the difference Global North-Global South, but also about making everyone’s voice heard more, regardless of race, gender and sexual orientation. Didactical approaches that fall under the umbrella of Open Pedagogy, with attention for principles of social justice, is one way to tackle this issue. At this conference, this translated into a lot of attention for Open Pedagogy, going from principles to practical experiences.

The presentation of Leigh-Ann Perryman When Openness Excludes: Strategies for Equitable Open Pedagogies in Various Contexts was exemplary for me. Among other things, she points to pitfalls for open approaches (e.g. cyber bullying or cyber violence when insufficient attention is paid to a safe environment during implementation). She, but also a few others, points to Universal Design of Learning as one of the ways to avoid these pitfalls.

Another good presentation on this topic is by Glenda Cox c.s. Participatory Pedagogy and Open Textbook Publishing Journeys: Emerging Models at the University of Cape Town about the experiences they have gained and researched during their DOT4D project and where they mainly focus on open textbooks as a tool for open approaches. She presents a.o. some authorship models that can be used as inspiration when thinking about forms of education in which the creation of artifacts by students is an activity (a typical feature of Open Pedagogy).

In a workshop Building a Social Framework for Sustaining Open Educational Resources, Paul Stacey and David Wiley discussed the need for a form of community building for the sustainability of OER, and which factors do or do not influence this. Some of these factors mentioned (also in the chat) included: a possible role for publishers; available funding on its own is not sufficient: recognition and a form of passion are at least as important. In my opinion, this passion should not only be for acting “open” (which is too much like missionary work to me), but more in the passion to achieve good education. Unfortunately, recordings of this workshop are not available, but in the thread on the social platform, many valuable contributions have been placed by participants in this workshop.

Coming from Dutch soil, the presentation of a very passionate Pim Bellinga: Stories from the Field: How educators from different institutions collaboratively create open resources is worthwhile. His company Grasple publishes open interactive math and statistics exercises and develops them together with higher education institutions. He has analysed which forms of collaboration they have observed in recent years and identified seven patterns. For me, this raises questions such as: what can you do when you have identified such a pattern? Could one formulate best practices per pattern? Or will these best practices ultimately be very similar because it is primarily about involvement, commitment and support?

The keynote from Catherine Stihler and Vanessa Proudman Connecting the Open – Open Access, Open Scholarship, Open Science, Open Education, drew attention to the similarities between open movements, especially Open Science and Open Education. UNESCO has formulated two Recommendations to increase adoption of both initiatives, with the Recommendation on Open Science still a Draft (see my blogs here and here). They argue for more joint initiatives and learning from each others experiences. In the Netherlands, we have paid attention to this before, for example in a symposium Open Science meets Open Education, organised by SURF and the SIG Open Education, but so far no follow-up has been given to this.

The presentation by Bryan McGeary et al., Building Sustainable and Scalable OER Initiatives Through Faculty, Librarian, and Student Partnerships that Encourage Open Pedagogy, comes under the heading “practical experiences”. For OER adoption from the point of view of the library that generates initiatives and provides support to instructors, giving workshops is not scalable. Instead, they have set up grants for OER development and their role then changes from that of implementer to project leader, which is more scalable. In these projects, students co-create open textbooks with instructors.

A remark made by Andy Lane in the chat at one of the presentations caught my attention: ‘(We) need to promote learning design as praxis – the braiding of theory and practice which covers the full range of ‘closededness’ and openness’. This may be an approach to achieving greater adoption of OER by promoting this in teacher education programmes.

Finally, I noticed that there was relatively little attention for MOOCs. For me, this marks the maturity of this type of course/learning material: it has passed the hype and is one of the tools in the large toolbox available to a teacher/institution.

I myself was involved in two contributions. Together with Lieke Rensink I presented a workshop on some intermediate results of an national innovation program on digital (open) educational resources, the creation of a vision document (with as horizon 2025) and development of a national technical infrastructure for digital educational resources. And, together with Ria Jacobi, I was involved in the creation of a videoclip on reuse of OER by Marjon Baas.

Links

All recordings made at this conference are available here.

Leigh-Ann Perryman: When Openness Excludes: Strategies for Equitable Open Pedagogies in Diverse Contexts

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Glenda Cox, Michelle Willmers, Bianca Masuku: Participatory Pedagogy and Open Textbook Publishing Journeys: Emerging Models at the University of Cape Town

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Bryan McGeary, Ashwini Ganeshan, Christopher Guder: Building Sustainable and Scalable OER Initiatives Through Faculty, Librarian, and Student Partnerships that Encourage Open Pedagogy

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Paul Stacey, David Wiley: Building a Social Framework For Sustaining Open Educational Resources

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Pim Bellinga: Stories from the Field: How educators from different institutions collaboratively create open resources

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Catherine Stihler & Vanessa Proudman: Connecting the opens – Open Access, Open Scholarship, Open Science, Open Education

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Robert Schuwer, Lieke Rensink: Acceleration of Innovation of (Open) Learning Materials in The Netherlands

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Marjon Baas, Ria Jacobi, Robert Schuwer: Reuse of OER Considered from Different Perspectives

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UNESCO Draft Recommendation on Open Science

In the UNESCO General Conference of November 2019 a Recommendation on OER was accepted by the Member States. In the same conference, it was decided to prepare “an international standard-setting instrument on Open Science, in the form of a recommendation”. A Draft Version of this Recommendation was recently published. The Draft proposes a definition of Open Science, its objectives, a framework of shared values and principles, as well as an analysis of work that needs to be done before societies can benefit from the vast potential of Open Science.

In a previous blog I have explained the different instruments UNESCO distinguishes between. A Recommendation is the instrument with the least non-committal approach to compliance for a government that has signed it.

What is the content of the Draft recommendation?

In a preliminary report fo this Draft, the following abstract can be found (emphasis added by me).

This first draft Recommendation on Open Science defines shared values and principles for Open Science, and identifies concrete actions to:

  • facilitate a more equitable, transparent and democratie production, dissemination and uptake of scientific knowledge around the world;
  • bring science closer to society;
  • contribute to closing the gaps in science, technology and innovation existing between and within countries.

It sets a common international policy framework for Open Science, reinforcing the human right to science and science as a global public good. While outlining its key objectives and elements, Open Science is defined as an umbrella concept that combines various movements and practices aiming to:

  • make scientific knowledge, methods, data and evidence freely available and accessible for everyone;
  • increase scientific collaborations and sharing of information for the benefits of science and society, and
  • open the process of scientific knowledge creation and circulation to societal actors beyond the institutionalized scientific community.

This first draft Recommendation argues that the scientific outputs should be as open as possible, and only as closed as necessary, mindful of the issues relating to security, privacy and respect for subjects of study.

The text identifies the richness of Open Science actors acknowledging their respective benefits from and responsibilities in the transition to Open Science. It also calls for equity and inclusion in ail stages of the scientific process and fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the outputs of science.

Finally, the first draft Recommendation spells out a number of recommendations to the Member States in the following key areas of action:

  • promoting a common understanding of Open Science;
  • developing an enabling policy environment for Open Science;
  • investing in Open Science infrastructures, services and capacity building for Open Science;
  • transforming scientific culture and aligning incentives for Open Science;
  • promoting innovative approaches for Open Science at different stages of the scientific process, and
  • promoting international cooperation on Open Science.

The text makes it clear that while paths towards Open Science may differ in different parts of the world, reflecting the specific Science, Technology and Innovation situations and capacity, Open Science requires a profound change in the scientific culture across the borders, moving from competition to collaboration and from having to sharing.

Some backgrounds

Comparing these recommendations with those from the OER Recommendation, they have a large resemblance, although in the latter more emphasis was placed on cost effectiveness. This is not surprising, looking at the description of Open Science in this Recommendation:

The term ‘Open Science’ refers to an umbrella concept that combines various movements and practices aiming to make scientific knowledge, methods, data and evidence freely available and accessible for everyone, increase scientific collaborations and sharing of information for the benefits of science and society, and open the process of scientific knowledge creation and circulation to societal actors beyond the institutionalized scientific community.

The following key elements are listed as comprising Open Science:

  • Open Access
  • Open Data
  • Open Source/Software and Open Hardware
  • Open Science Infrastructures
  • Open Evaluation
  • Open Educational Resources
  • Open Engagement of Societal Actors
  • Openness to Diversity of Knowledge
    • Openness to Indigenous Knowledge Systems
    • Openness to all Scholarly Knowledge and Inquiry

In the regional consultations, leading to this Draft, regional differences came to light in some specific priorities areas. Challenges were identified as prerequisites for a fair and just transition to Open Science. In Western Europe and North America, the need for aligning incentives for Open Science, including by reviewing the current systems of scientific evaluation and rewards based on the principles of Open Science, has been identified among the key priorities. Other priorities include the promotion of new generation of innovative collaborations, including with societal actors beyond the scientific community; respect for bibliodiversity; harmonization of data protection policies and investment in shared and coordinated open science infrastructures taking into account regional and disciplinary specificities. The current Recognition and Rewards initiative in Dutch Research Universities fits in perfectly when being involved with Open Science becomes part of this.

UNESCO’s Member States are scheduled to adopt the final draft during their next General Conference in November 2021.

UNESCO and COVID-19

In the past weeks, UNESCO has been busy with several activities to support education in the current COVID-19 crisis, with a specific focus on OER and OEP (Open Educational Practices). They have collected everything on a website. This website is regularly updated. Some resources on this website I find worthwhile.

  • Overview of national platforms and tools. Contains among many other things links to available (national) repositories of OER and national and local support sites. (*)
  • Overview of distance learning solutions to facilitate student learning and provide social care and interaction during periods of school closure.
  • Webinars on the educational dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those webinars provide a venue for stakeholders working in education to share practices, ideas and resources about country responses to school closures and other challenges stemming from the global health crisis.

(*) In the overview, The Netherlands is missing. Some sources I would recommend to add to this overview:

Also, more information about the Global Education Coalition can be found. From their press release:

Multilateral partners, including the International Labor Organization, the UN High Commission for Refugees, The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the World Food Programme and the International Telecommunication Union, as well as the Global Partnership for Education, Education Cannot Wait, the OIF (Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie) the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the Asian Development Bank have joined the Coalition, stressing the need for swift and coordinated support to countries in order to mitigate the adverse impacts of school closures, in particular for the most disadvantaged.

The private sector, including, Microsoft, GSMA, Weidong, Google, Facebook, Zoom, KPMG and Coursera have also joined the Coalition, contributing resources and their expertise around technology, notably connectivity, and capacity strengthening. Companies using learner and educational data have committed to uphold ethical standards.

Philanthropic and non-profit organizations, including Khan Academy, Dubai Cares, Profuturo and Sesame Street are also part of the Coalition, mobilizing their resources and services to support schools, teachers, parents and learners during this time of unparalleled educational disruption.

Media outlets are also invited to join the Coalition, as has done the BBC World Service as part of its commitment to supporting young people in lockdown across the globe. The BBC will be producing advice, stories, and media education materials to help isolated young people understand how the Coronavirus may affect them.

Their aim is:

Specifically, the Coalition aims to:

  • Help countries in mobilizing resources and implementing innovative and context-appropriate solutions to provide education remotely, leveraging hi-tech, low-tech and no-tech approaches
  • Seek equitable solutions and universal access
  • Ensure coordinated responses and avoid overlapping efforts
  • Facilitate the return of students to school when they reopen to avoid an upsurge in dropout rates

The involvement of the big (Ed)Tech companies in this coalition has raised some concerns (page 25-26). In his blog, Ben Janssen elaborates on this.

The UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (UNESCO IITE) and UNESCO International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education (UNESCO INRULED) have published a reportGuidance on Open Educational Practices during School Closures: Utilizing OER under COVID-19 Pandemic in line with UNESCO OER Recommendation. From the preface:

This publication is motivated and inspired by UNESCO OER Recommendations and the innovative experiences worldwide. It aims to show the implications of using Open Educational Practices (OEP) and Open Educational Resources (OER) on learning outcomes. Particularly, it describes, through illustrative examples, innovative approaches to using OEP and OER worldwide during COVID-19 outbreak.

The report can be used as a source of inspiration of how OER and OEP can create online and blended learning experiences. It provides an introduction in both elements, using the Recommendation on OER as structuring framework.

 

A Global Outlook to the Interruption of Education due to COVID-19 Pandemic

Last week the article A Global Outlook to the Interruption of Education due to COVID-19 Pandemic: Navigating in a Time of Uncertainty and Crisis was published in the Asian Journal of Distance Education. The article was an initiative of Aras Bozkurt from Anadolu University, Turkey. In this article, for 31 countries (see picture hereunder) the way the corona crisis is handled, the consequences for education, the lessons learned sofar and suggestions for improvement in the future are described.

Comparing the cases, the abstract mentions the similar findings that can be destilled from the cases (emphasis added by me):

Uncertain times require prompt reflexes to survive and this study is a collaborative reflex to better understand uncertainty and navigate through it. The Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic hit hard and interrupted many dimensions of our lives, particularly education. As a response to interruption of education due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this study is a collaborative reaction that narrates the overall view, reflections from the K12 and higher educational landscape, lessons learned and suggestions from a total of 31 countries across the world with a representation of 62.7% of the whole world population. In addition to the value of each case by country, the synthesis of this research suggests that the current practices can be defined as emergency remote education and this practice is different from planned practices such as distance education, online learning or other derivations. Above all, this study points out how social injustice, inequity and the digital divide have been exacerbated during the pandemic and need unique and targeted measures if they are to be addressed. While there are support communities and mechanisms, parents are overburdened between regular daily/professional duties and emerging educational roles, and all parties are experiencing trauma, psychological pressure and anxiety to various degrees, which necessitates a pedagogy of care, affection and empathy. In terms of educational processes, the interruption of education signifies the importance of openness in education and highlights issues that should be taken into consideration such as using alternative assessment and evaluation methods as well as concerns about surveillance, ethics, and data privacy resulting from nearly exclusive dependency on online solutions.

Ben Janssen and me were asked (via Bea de los Arcos) to write the case for The Netherlands. We delivered the first version on May 3 and a version with the comments of the reviewer reworked on May 23. Here is our contribution (p. 79-82).

Overview
Reflections from the educational landscape
First experiences
Lessons learned
Suggestions for the future
References


Overview

According to World Population Review (2020), The Netherlands have a population of 17M inhabitants. In the academic year 2018-2019, the number of students were: in primary education 1.45M, in secondary education 970K, in vocational education 500K, and in higher education 650K. According to Eurostat, 98% of the households in the Netherlands in 2019 have broadband access to the internet.

The first official case of Covid-19 contamination was on February 27, 2020. After initially being referred to as a ‘minor flu with few consequences’ the number of infections increased exponentially in the first two weeks of March. This forced the Dutch government on March 12, 2020 to announce several measures, amongst which: people were called upon to work from home as much as possible or to spread their working hours. Their rationale was to strive for a minimum number of patients on intensive care units, to have this capacity manageable.

All higher education institution locations were closed. Schools in primary, secondary and vocational education and childcare remained open, since social consequences of the closure of these schools would be considerable and closure would do little to limit the spread. However, there was strong opposition from teachers and institutions. Therefore on March 15, 2020 Dutch government decided to close down all schools. Only children of parents in what were called ‘crucial professions’, such as those in health care, police, public transport and fire brigades, were allowed to attend Kindergarten and primary education schools.

In the beginning of April Dutch government decided that both national assessments for the final year of primary schools and national exams for the final year of secondary schools were cancelled. Instead, the advice of teachers in primary school had to be decisive for admission of learners to the level of secondary education (either pre-vocational secondary education or general secondary education). For those leaving secondary education, the diploma would be based on the results of the local school exams (in a normal situation these would decide the final grades for 50%).

The number of infections continued to increase and there was a threat of a shortage of intensive care units in hospitals. Stricter measures were called upon by the government. On March 23, 2020 a so called ‘intelligent lockdown’ was decided. Almost all professions with human contact were prohibited, except for (para)medical professions. The lockdown allowed people to do their daily shopping, have a stroll (but preferably close to home), keeping a 1.5 meter distance, and only when you had no signs of a cold or (worse) had a fever. Gatherings in public space of more than 2 people were forbidden. Households were only allowed to receive visitors with a maximum of three people, with a minimum distance of 1.5 meters. All educational institutions, from Kindergarten to university remained closed.

Except for a few occasions, there was great understanding for these measures by Dutch people and they were followed rather strictly. All measures of the intelligent lockdown taken together have led to a steady decline of the contaminations and, as a result, less pressure on the intensive care capacity.

On April 21, 2020 Dutch government announced to partly reopen schools in primary education starting May 11, 2020. Pupils were allowed to go to school for half of their teaching time, but in smaller groups. The other half of the time they were expected to receive emergency remote education. Kindergarten and schools for primary special education reopened fully from that date. Institutions for secondary education and higher education were to partly reopen in the beginning of June. Most institutions will then give priority to learners taking (practical) assessments, in order to prevent as much as possible any impending study delay.

Reflections from the educational landscape

Within a week after the closure on March 15, 2020 most educational institutions had pivoted their education to emergency remote education (in a mixture of synchronous and asynchronous delivery modes). For many teachers, from primary to higher education, it was their first encounter with providing education online. They quickly experienced that different time and group arrangements were needed compared to face-to-face education, e.g. by noticing that attention of learners declined quickly during lecturing without interaction.

As a result, teachers and institutions began to make grateful use of the support sites of national educational ICT- organizations and mutual help on a fairly large scale. In a very short period of time, these websites popped up to guide teachers in remote teaching with tips, tricks and overviews of safe tooling. Both individual institutions and the two Dutch public organizations for Education & ICT, SURF (for higher education) and Kennisnet (for the other sectors) were active in this area.

SURF regularly organized webinars on specific topics, e.g. online proctoring, using OER or alternative methods for assessment. In primary education, several schools arranged for weekly physical lesson packages to be worked through at home, preferably supervised by the parents. Teachers were available online for a daily group instruction and for feedback during the day, providing some structure for the pupils (and their parents).

Dutch Open University (OUNL) developed a website containing guidelines, manuals, tips, and directions for developing, setting up, and supervising online education. Insights and experiences of the OUNL with online education and digital didactics have been brought together and made accessible to everyone involved in the switch to providing education online.

In Kindergarten and primary schools teachers sought virtual contact with their pupils as much as possible on a daily basis. Parents started massively teaching their children at home using commercial online programs like Squla, Basispoort and Junior Einstein.

Because more and more institutions for higher education were counting with a scenario where also the first semester of the academic year 2020-2021 will be online, there was a growing interest of teachers in a more thorough approach, including redesign of (parts of) their lectures to realize a better quality online education and learning. Judging by the questions for more information that reached one of the authors, many teachers have become interested in available Open Educational Resources (OER) as addition to or replacement for the learning materials they were using in their regular teaching.

First experiences

Items in the daily news created a picture of acceptance that there is no other way, but also a growing desire to return to a normal face-to-face situation. A first study in primary and secondary education by Bol (2020) indicates that differences in parental support are driven by the ability to help: parents with a higher education background feel much better able to help their children with schoolwork than low-educated parents. Also, children from privileged backgrounds have more resources (e.g. their own computer) to study at home. Parents also indicate that schools offer more far-reaching education to children in general secondary education than to children in pre-vocational secondary education. There are also clear signs of gender gap: parents feel much better able to support their daughters than their sons.

The national Education Inspectorate (Inspectie van het onderwijs, 2020a) published a monitor for all educational sectors, based on interviews with staff and management of a sample of institutions. From this monitor and a letter to the Parliament from the PO-Raad (the sectoral organisation for primary education), the following issues where staff, teachers, learners and parents in primary and secondary education are struggling with were mentioned:

  • feelings of uncertainty about danger of contamination for or by young children, with the schools in primary education reopening;
  • concerns about pupils falling behind and how to solve that without putting too much pressure on teachers who already did a tremendous job the first months of the Covid-19 crisis (so preferably no shorter summer holidays). More specifically a lack of sufficient digital equipment for learners at home and inability to get into contact with hundreds of learners in less privileged families are mentioned;
  • need for extra attention for children who need specialized (primary) education who often cannot comprehend what is happening.

Several higher education institutions were confronted with concerns from student organizations about privacy and violations of GDPR using online proctoring surveillance in exams. These concerns have even led to questions in Parliament (Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal, 2020). In (Inspectie van het onderwijs, 2020a) other issues with regard to vocational and higher education experience are: the inability to continue internships for students, concerns about students in a challenging environment (part-time students or international students), workload for teachers, social isolation among students and the financial consequences for the institution (e.g. because of less enrollments from international students).

Many students in vocational and higher education experienced stress due to the crisis. Anxiety about a delay of their study and financial issues (e.g. because they have lost their job due to the economic depression caused by the pandemic) were among the causes. A survey study from the Dutch Student Union (Crabbendam & Goes, 2020) into experiences with emergency remote education had as main findings:

  • 66% of the students were worried about the consequences of the crisis;
  • 48% of the students in universities of applied sciences and 27% of students at research universities expected study delays (e.g. because practical exams cannot be taken);
  • 42% of the students in universities of applied sciences and 31% of students at research universities experienced the quality of distance teaching as being low. The numbers for those experiencing the quality as high were 23% and 25%.

These findings were based on responses from 427 students of which 53% were from a university of applied sciences and 46% from research universities.

Some groups of students and teachers were directly involved in fighting the pandemic. Nursing students and teachers provided much needed hands-on support in hospitals and houses for caring elderly and vulnerable people. Within a month time a group of students and professors at Delft University of Technology had developed a safe and relatively easy producible ventilator that can be used when a shortage occurs due to the coronavirus pandemic, sharing their documentation open source. 

Lessons learned

There are several lessons learned. Because it was the only option available, the pivot to emergency remote education was accomplished fast and received broad acceptance from both teachers and learners, despite the concerns mentioned earlier. For most teachers – the ‘early’ and ‘late majority’ in terms of Rogers’ theory of diffusion of innovation (Rogers, 2003) – this has been the first comprehensive introduction and experience with online education. E.g. reuse of freely accessible resources (with or without rights of adaptation under conditions prescribed by the open license) has undoubtedly grown considerably because teachers and students will experience the rapid availability of these resources as an added value in the current context.

In (Crabbendam & Goes, 2020), students rate the following aspects as characteristic for good online education: easily accessible teachers, having available the appropriate means and the ability to organise the day yourself. As aspects leading to mediocre online education the following were mentioned: bad internet connections, difficulties in creating an effective study environment at home, missing the social environment with fellow students, insufficient communication from the institution about the situation, online education does not always help to comprehend the content and does not offer sufficient different ways to take education. Students with disabilities experience even more difficulties:54% experienced obstacles against 27% in a normal situation. This group of students therefore needs extra attention in online education.

The 2020 annual report of the Education Inspectorate (Inspectie van het onderwijs, 2020b) outlines the long-term developments and results of education as a whole. Only the foreword refers to the plausible risk that the global pandemic will have far-reaching consequences for education. The report did not yet address this risk, nor did the Ministry’s previous annual reports and multi-year policy plans. Forecasts for the future consisted mainly of extrapolations or trends observed. What this crisis has made clear is that policy will also have to take into account non-linearities because the future is not a simple, not even a sophisticated extrapolation of past trends. Highly improbable events take place. Asymmetric outcomes or Black Swans as Taleb (2008) has baptized them: “I will never get to know the unknown, since, by definition, it is unknown. However, I can always guess how it might affect me, and I should base my decisions around that” (p. 210). 

Suggestions for the future

  1. From the study of (Crabbendam & Goes, 2020), the following suggestions were mentioned for teachers and institutions for higher education:
    • Educational institutions should communicate as clearly as possible about students’ study progress. There must be timely communication about graduation, internships and moving on to subsequent education;
    • Students’ experiences differ. Lecturers and institutions must be more responsive to students’ individual situations;
    • Students with a disability need personal contact just at this moment.
  1. Pandemics and their impact on different education systems must become part of strategic education planning. National education systems need to prepare for the potential long-term consequences, but also to seize the opportunities to change and reposition education and training with a view to sustainable development.
  2. Internationally, countries need to learn from this situation and prepare contingency plans to meet the challenges of the next pandemic. This publication is a good contribution to that end. Partnership and networking will be the key to sharing and learning from each other. UNESCO has an important role to play in this.
  3. How can we ensure that these experiences sustain in a post-corona era and lead to an optimal blend of online and face-to-face education? The key to this lies in determining what added value teachers and learners in a more normalized situation will experience (Schuwer & Janssen, 2018). That added value may then well be different than currently is experienced.
  4. Redesign of education will be necessary, where learning goals, educational activities and assessment are constructively aligned (Biggs, 1996). A promising angle may be a shift to alternative forms of assessment, to avoid dependency on surveillance software.
  5. Also important are concerns about the costs that will be associated with a transition to online distance education, even if only partially. The experience gained by open universities worldwide clearly points in the direction of greater upfront investment, in the creation of materials and courses suitable for distance learning, but also in terms of the professionalization of instructors in the field of digital didactics. One can expect a larger demand for institutional support, so institutions can prepare for this. This may ask for a change in policies to secure this enhanced support. And this in turn will have consequences for the current business and funding models of publicly funded education in the Netherlands.

References

Biggs, J. (1996). Enhancing teaching through constructive alignment. Higher Education, 32(3), 347-364. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00138871

Bol, T. (2020). Inequality in homeschooling during the corona crisis in The Netherlands. First results from the LISS panel. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/hf32q

Crabbendam, J. & Goes, D. (2020). Distance education. A study into the experiences of students with distance education in response to the corona crisis (Onderwijs op afstand. Een onderzoek naar de ervaringen van studenten met afstandsonderwijs naar aanleiding van de coronacrisis). LSvB, Utrecht. https://lsvb.nl/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Rapport-afstandsonderwijs-1-1.pdf

Inspectie van het onderwijs (2020a). Covid-19 monitor. https://www.onderwijsinspectie.nl/onderwerpen/afstandsonderwijs-tijdens-covid-19

Inspectie van het onderwijs (2020b). De Staat van het Onderwijs 2020. https://www.onderwijsinspectie.nl/documenten/rapporten/2020/04/22/staat-van-het-onderwijs-2020

Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). Simon & Schuster.

Schuwer, R., & Janssen, B. (2018). Adoption of sharing and reuse of open resources by educators in higher education institutions in The Netherlands: A qualitative research of practices, motives, and conditions. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 19(3). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v19i3.3390

Taleb, N.N. (2008). The Black Swan, the impact of the highly improbable. Penguin, London.

Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal (2020). Onderwijs en corona (2020A01750). https://www.tweedekamer.nl/debat_en_vergadering/commissievergaderingen/details?id=2020A01750

World Population Review (2020). Total Population by Country 2020. https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/

Learn about COVID-19

Open resources are very useful in the pivot to online education as has happened the past few weeks, due to the corona crisis. Many overviews of open resources aimed at supporting teachers and staff in this endeavour have been published and are still being published and updated. See my previous blogpost (in Dutch)  for some examples in the Netherlands.

But open resources are also useful for learning about the corona virus and the COVID-19 disease it causes. Several of these resources have been published the past few weeks. Here an overview of resources I found.

OpenWHO is the new interactive, web-based, knowledge-transfer platform of the World Health Organization, offering online courses to improve the response to health emergencies.

The open courses about COVID-19 are collected on one page. These are mostly real-time training courses about prevention, offered in several languages. The overview is regularly updated with new courses.
The website


Courses about COVID-19
Class Central maintains an overview of MOOCs about COVID-19, offered by several institutions around the world (e.g. Johns Hopkins University, University of Toronto, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine)The overview on Class Central
Science Matters: Let's Talk About COVID-19 of the Imperial College London is "about the theory behind the analyses of COVID-19 and its spread, while learning how to interpret new information using core principles of public health, epidemiology, medicine, health economics, and social science." The course is regularly updated with new insights. (3 study hours estimated)Course on the Coursera platform
Fighting COVID-19 with Epidemiology: A Johns Hopkins Teach-Out is "for anyone who has been curious about how we identify and measure outbreaks like the COVID-19 epidemic and wants to understand the epidemiology of these infections." (4 study hours estimated)Course on the Coursera platform
Coronavirus - What you need to know, offered by Alison, "focuses on the history, transmission, symptoms, possible treatment and potential prevention of the novel coronavirus." (1-2 hours estimated)Course on the Alison platform
The Dutch OER platform Wikiwijs has several resources available for primary, secondary, vocational and higher education. Most of the resources are in Dutch.Primary education
Secondary education
Vocational education
Higher education
SPARC Europe maintains an overview with several open initiatives to fight the virus, for research and to inform the community. This overview contains several valuable resources for teachers who want to create their own OER about this topic (e.g. datasets and data tools to fight Corona).Overview of SPARC Europe

Disclaimer: for sure, I can and will not guarantee the completeness of this overview.

 

Open in post-corona

CC0 Matthew Affflecat. https://pixabay.com/nl/illustrations/corona-virus-coronavirus-virus-4932576/
Gedwongen door de coronavirus pandemie is de afgelopen weken wereldwijd door velen keihard gewerkt om het mogelijk te maken onderwijs op afstand online aan te bieden. Websites met tips over tools, didactiek, ondersteuning voor ouders en good practices schoten als paddestoelen uit de grond, zowel op instellingsniveau als landelijk en mondiaal. In Nederland startte SURF een Vraagbaak online onderwijs en Kennisnet de website Les op afstand voor PO, VO en MBO en publiceerde UNESCO een website met tien tips voor leren op afstand. Open Educational Resources (OER) en (Massive) Open Online Courses ((M)OOC’s) worden als vrij toegankelijk beschikbaar digitaal leermateriaal ingezet, naast commercieel digitaal leermateriaal dat door diverse uitgevers gedurende deze crisis vrij toegankelijk wordt gemaakt. Zelf kreeg ik diverse vragen over vindplaatsen voor OER (waarbij ik als antwoord verwees naar de toolkit op mijn website) en (M)OOC’s (waarbij voor mij de portal Class Central met stip op 1 staat als startpunt voor zoeken). Een idee om colleges, zelf thuis opgenomen met een webcam, vrij toegankelijk beschikbaar te stellen leidde tot de website Quarantaine colleges. Op het moment van schrijven van deze post stonden 16 videos van colleges online, in tijd variërend van 7 minuten tot bijna 1,5 uur.

Maar er komen ook diverse pijnpunten naar boven:

  • een dreigende vergroting van de tweedeling in de maatschappij tussen leerlingen en studenten die in een thuissituatie goed ondersteund kunnen worden (voldoende IT-apparatuur beschikbaar en een omgeving die het leerproces kan ondersteunen) en degenen waar dat minder goed geregeld is;
  • docenten die een (didactische) aanpak van een face-2-face situatie 1-op-1 vertalen naar een online situatie (colleges, zelfde soort summatieve toetsing, verwachtingen van zelfde soort gedrag bij studenten online als die ze bij face-2-face onderwijs vertonen);
  • praktijkonderwijs is lastig om volledig online te geven;
  • De snelheid waarmee adoptie van de tools plaatsvindt en waarmee online brengen van digitale bronnen gebeurt gaat soms ten koste van aandacht privacy (AVG en de noodzaak voor verwerkersovereenkomsten met leveranciers van de tools) en auteursrechten die op bronnen kunnen rusten.

Daarnaast spelen ook gevoelens van angst voor de ziekte zelf en de onzekerheid over hoelang dit gaat duren en welke consequenties dit mogelijk economisch kan hebben een rol. Gevoelens die ongetwijfeld hun weerslag hebben op de onderwijs- en leerprocessen en de mentale weerbaarheid van docenten en studenten.

Mag hier desondanks gesproken worden over een adoptie van open online onderwijs en OER? Daar heb ik twijfels over. Inderdaad, voor velen zal deze gedwongen transitie naar volledig online de eerste ervaringen zijn met deze vorm van onderwijs en met OER. Dit zal met name gelden voor wat Rogers (2003) aanduidt als de Early en Late majority van docenten. Er is simpelweg geen alternatief beschikbaar, dus iedereen zal moeten roeien met de riemen die het heeft. Hergebruik van vrij toegankelijke bronnen (al dan niet met rechten van aanpassing onder voorwaarden die door de open licentie worden voorgeschreven) zal ongetwijfeld een grote groei kennen. Docenten en studenten zullen met name de snelle beschikbaarheid van deze bronnen als toegevoegde waarde in de huidige context ervaren.

Blijvende adoptie

Hoe kunnen we ervoor zorgen dat deze ervaringen in een post-corona tijdperk beklijven en leiden tot een blijvende vergroting van adoptie van OER? De sleutel hiervoor ligt in het bepalen van welke toegevoegde waarde docenten in een meer genormaliseerde situatie zullen ervaren bij een dergelijke adoptie. Uit diverse onderzoeken (waaronder mijn eigen onderzoek in (Schuwer & Janssen, 2018)) is al bekend dat, naast snelle beschikbaarheid, toegevoegde waarde op diverse vlakken wordt ervaren:

  • Institutionele voordelen (zoals marketing en exposure door open publiceren van bronnen, het bereiken van nieuwe doelgroepen (bijvoorbeeld professionals in de beroepsbevolking));
  • Financiële voordelen (bronnen die duur zijn om te maken (bv. MOOC’s) worden hergebruikt);
  • Educatieve voordelen (zoals het vermogen om blended learning beter te ondersteunen (met flipped classroom  als meest genoemde vorm), efficiëntie in het creëren van leermateriaal door hergebruik van bestaande bronnen, beter kunnen omgaan met diversiteit, het verbeteren van de kwaliteit van het leermateriaal (bijvoorbeeld door peer feedback op gedeelde materialen of in vakcommunities gezamenlijk ontwikkelen van materialen), en ultimo daardoor verbeteren van de kwaliteit van het onderwijs);
  • Persoonlijke voordelen (zoals erkenning, idealistische motieven en tegenwicht voor commerciële uitgevers).

Uit diezelfde onderzoeken wordt ook duidelijk dat er een infrastructuur (zowel technisch als organisatorisch) nodig is om de drempels voor adoptie van OER zo laag mogelijk te maken:

  • Een technische infrastructuur moet ervoor zorgen dat open bronnen eenvoudig te delen en te vinden zijn, dat bronnen in een format beschikbaar zijn die aanpassing mogelijk maken (door bijvoorbeeld niet alleen een bron te publiceren in een format dat voor gebruik handig is, maar ook in een format dat aanpassing mogelijk maakt). Op diverse plekken wordt al eraan gewerkt om die infrastructuur te realiseren (bijvoorbeeld in de zone Naar digitale (open) leermaterialen in het Versnellingsplan Onderwijsinnovatie met ICT).
  • Een organisatorische infrastructuur moet ervoor zorgen dat voor docenten (de decisive change agents in deze adoptie) optimale ondersteuning (ICT, onderwijskundig en auteursrechtelijk) en een veilige experimenteeromgeving beschikbaar is. Een dergelijke infrastructuur kan worden geborgd door een instellingsbeleid op dit punt. De UNESCO publicatie Guidelines on the Development of Open Educational Resources Policies levert handvatten om een dergelijk beleid te formuleren.

Deze periode maakt ook duidelijk dat toegang tot voldoende geëquipeerde ICT voor een grote groep lerenden in Nederland niet voldoende gerealiseerd is. Wellicht is dat minder een probleem in een genormaliseerde situatie, maar deze beperktere toegang, veelal vanwege financiële motieven, strekt zich ook uit naar toegang tot leermaterialen. De financiële voordelen van gebruik van open leermaterialen worden daarmee niet alleen ervaren door de instelling die ze adopteren, maar ook door de lerenden.

Docenten ervaren in deze periode ook aan den lijve dat online afstandsonderwijs een andere tak van sport is dan face-2-face. Het vereist een ander ontwerp en andere didactische werkvormen dan in een face-2-face situatie mogelijk is. Het is daarom niet verwonderlijk dat veel van de hulpbronnen die nu snel online zijn gebracht handvatten geven om hierin eerste stappen te zetten. Daar waar in deze periode ruimte is om deze ervaringen goed te ondersteunen en uit te bouwen door docenten duidelijk te maken dat een aantal voordelen van deze veranderingen ook in een genormaliseerde situatie kunnen gelden, zal dat ongetwijfeld bijdragen aan blijvende adoptie. Die ruimte moet er niet alleen in tijd zijn, maar ook mentaal. Die mentale ruimte kan door de eerder genoemde angst en onzekerheid die deze periode met zich meebrengt beperkt zijn, maar het is de moeite waard alert te zijn op deze kansen. Adoptie van OER, of breder, adoptie van opener vormen van onderwijs maakt bijvoorbeeld vormen van onderwijs beter mogelijk met kenmerken als student agency en alternatieve vormen van toetsing (non-disposable assignment). Deze vormen staan bekend onder de parapluterm Open Pedagogy. De SURF Special Interest Groep Open Education heeft hier eind vorig jaar een publicatie over uitgebracht met meer informatie.

Welke ervaringen die nu worden opgedaan met gebruik van OER zullen beklijven? Zullen docenten blijvend hun colleges opnemen met hun eigen webcam en die opnamen delen en welke toegevoegde waarde wordt daarvan dan ervaren? Zullen de ervaringen juist leiden tot een grotere aversie tegen online onderwijs of tot meer bewustzijn dat de mix van online en face-2-face door inzet van OER voordelen kan bieden waar men zich tot nu toe nooit bewust van was? Zal dit alles leiden tot een grotere vraag naar ondersteuning en zijn instellingen daarop voorbereid? Kunnen we studenten een grotere rol geven in de adoptie van OER, bijvoorbeeld door zicht te krijgen op de bronnen die zij verzamelen? Zoeken docenten elkaar nu ook virtueel op en kan dat een kiem zijn voor een vakcommunity waarin maken, delen en hergebruiken van OER een rol heeft? De tijd zal het leren, maar door nu alert te zijn op kansen en daarnaar te handelen kan op een opener toekomst worden voorgesorteerd.

Referenties

Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). New York, NY: Free Press

Schuwer, R., & Janssen, B. (2018). Adoption of Sharing and Reuse of Open Resources by Educators in Higher Education Institutions in the Netherlands: A Qualitative Research of Practices, Motives, and Conditions. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning19(3). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v19i3.3390

 

How accessible are MOOCs nowadays?

This blogpost is an adapted version of a previous blogpost (in Dutch).

December 2019, the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has published its new strategic agenda for higher education: “Sustainable for the future” (in Dutch). The previous agenda contained two ambitions on openness in education: in 2025 all teachers share their learning materials and in 2025 all institutions recognize each other’s MOOCs. In the current agenda only the first mentioned ambition remained. Even more: where the previous agenda contained the word “MOOC” 9x, the current agenda does not mention MOOC a single time. On the other hand, the current agenda has strong ambitions in realizing more flexibility in education. Availability of sufficient accessible MOOCs can help in realizing these ambitions, by making education and learning more time and place independant. My presumption is that the decreasing openness of MOOCs plays a role in the absence of MOOCs in the agenda. Decreasing openness of MOOCs is in any case what strikes me when I compare the possibilities offered by MOOCs that I took in 2012 with most of the MOOCs that I now want to take.

In order to find out what open opportunities MOOCs now offer to learners, I conducted a small study. Subsequently, I will go into more detail on which aspects of “open” I included, how the study was carried out, what the results were and what the consequences might be.

Characteristics of open

To realize adoption of OER, Cox and Trotter (2017) have formulated their OER Adoption Pyramid. In this pyramid, several factors influencing adoption of OER are identified. The first factor is Access, described as (p.156):

The first factor determining lecturers’ or institutions’ engagement with OER is access. This refers to having access to the appropriate physical infrastructure and hardware – such as electricity, internet connectivity and computer devices – necessary for engaging with digitally-mediated OER. It is the factor that lecturers have the least control over, in that it tends to be determined by state resource capacity and provision (for electricity and connectivity) and institutional resource allocations (for computers).

This description of access presumes availability of OER that by definition meet the (5R) requirements of openness. In the case of MOOCs, openness is looked at beyond the context of OER, thus not necessarily meeting the 5R requirements.  This means that in the description of access also “sufficiently open access is provided for the goal the MOOC is needed” should be mentioned. Put in other words: when this factor is not met, adoption will not take place, whatever the other characteristics of the MOOC will be.

Ben Janssen pointed me to the difference between “access” and “accessibility”. In a blogpost (in Dutch) he has elaborated on this. Inspired by a blog of Rick Anderson, Ben distinguishes between three layers of access, where each higher layer can be reached when the lower layers are addressed:

  • Layer 1: Access to (educational) resources. This is comparable with the Access layer in the OER Adoption Pyramid, extended with access free of charge
  • Layer 2: Access of (educational) resources. This refers to the extent the resources can be freely used. This is comparable with the Permission layer in the OER Adoption Pyramid
  • Layer 3: Access to content of the (educational) resources. This refers to the extent the content of the resources is open and inclusive. This is comparable with the Availability layer in the OER Adoption Pyramid

In order to maximise the potential use of a MOOC by both instructors and learners, at least layers 1 and 2 should be addressed sufficiently. I have translated these two layers into the following three characteristics:

  1. Open access: the MOOC is accessible to anyone who wishes to do so
  2. Free of charge: access to the MOOC does not require payment
  3. Open license: the materials used in the MOOC are available under an open license which permits adaptation and reuse

In my study, I am particularly interested in the openness of MOOCs for learners. For them, characteristics 1 and 2 are particularly important (layer 1). The availability of MOOCs that meet characteristics 1 and 2 of openness is particularly valuable in the context of the flexibility ambitions in the strategic agenda. Characteristic 3 (layer 2) will be of little importance to learners: he or she will in general not feel the need to apply the adaptation rights associated with an open license to the learning resources used. However, based on the results of the study, I will indicate why, in some cases, the open license may also be of interest to a learner.

Structure of the study

For the study, I took a sample of 100 MOOCs. That sample was determined by the Top 100 courses of the Class Central platform on 1 January 2020. According to Class Central these courses are: “The highest rated online courses and MOOCs of all-time from top universities around the world. Based on thousands of reviews written by Class Central users.”

Some characteristics of this sample:

  • The courses cover 13 subject areas. Humanities (15), Business (14) and Science (13) contain the most courses.
  • Regarding the language of the courses: 93 English, 4 Spanish, 2 Italian and 1 Dutch (Introduction to Dutch from the University of Groningen).
  • Three courses come from the Netherlands. In addition to the aforementioned course from the University of Groningen, they are Understanding the GDPR (also
  • from the University of Groningen) and EU policy and implementation: making Europe work! (from Leiden University)
  • The courses are available on the platforms Coursera (43), EdX (25), Futurelearn (17), Kadenze (4), Complexity Explorer (2), Swayam (1) and Udacity (1). Of seven courses, the platform in Class Central is described as Independent. This refers to specific platforms of the institute offering the course (e.g. University of Tasmania and University of Helsinki). Class Central has an overview of MOOC providers where more information can be found about these and other platforms.
  • 91 courses offer the possibility of obtaining a certificate.

As can be seen, 85 courses are offered by the “big three”: Coursera, EdX and Futurelearn. In addition to individual courses, these three platforms also offer trajectories consisting of several courses with a common denominator. Access to these trajectories (with names such as MasterTrack Certificates, Degrees, MicroMasters, Microcredentials and programs) is not free of charge. They have therefore not been considered in this study.

Results

All courses meet characteristic 1: Open access (accessible to anyone who wants to). This is what one can expect for “Massive” courses.

With regard to characteristic 2 (free access to the course), the following table provides an overview of the platforms included in the Top 100. The “Experiences” column contains additions that have been obtained, among other things, by taking a closer look at some of the courses listed in the Top 100.

PlatformAvailable free of chargeExperiences
CourseraHundreds of free courses give you access to on-demand video lectures, homework exercises, and community discussion forums. Paid courses provide additional quizzes and projects as well as a shareable Course Certificate upon completion. (Source)Sometimes more elements are offered free of charge, such as an interactive programming environment for a programming course, discussion forums, peer grading, graded quizzes (multiple choice). However, this usually only becomes clear after registering for the course.
EdXIn the course information: "Audit This Course (No Certificate): Audit this course for free and have access to course materials and discussions forums. This track does not include graded assignments, or unlimited course access."Course dependent. Sometimes a Statement of Accomplishment is also offered if the course is completed with a certain minimum result. EdX also has a (paid) Verified Track access. This includes Unlimited Course Access: "Learn at your own pace, and access materials anytime to brush up on what you've learned". This wording suggests that Audit access to course materials is not unlimited.
FuturelearnAccess to the course for its duration + 14 days, regardless of when you join. (Source)Some (video) content is downloadable.
KadenzeFree: video lessons and participation in the discussion forumOnly part of the course catalogue has access free of charge.
Complexity ExplorerAll elements in the courses listed in the Top 100 are available free of charge, including a certificate.Not all courses on the platform are available free of charge (these courses are not part of the Top 100). Afterwards the materials will be made available free of charge, but it is not possible to obtain a certificate.
SwayamAll course elements are accessible free of charge, but no certificate. (Source)Most courses on the platform mention one or more books (not free of charge) as learning material. It is unclear whether the course can be followed without purchasing that book.
UdacityAll course elements are accessible and downloadable free of charge, but no certificate.Sometimes a link is made to content on the provider's site. For the courses I have viewed, that content was also accessible free of charge.
IndependentCourse dependent, ranging from only access free of charge to learning materials to access fere of charge to all course elements and a certificate of completion at the end of the course.Sometimes the materials are only available during the run of the course.

With regard to characteristic 3 (availability of the learning materials under an open license), the following table provides an overview.

PlatformOpen license
Coursera You may download content from our Services only for your personal, non-commercial use, unless you obtain Coursera's written permission to otherwise use the content. (Source)
EdX Unless indicated as being in the public domain, the content on the edX Site is protected by United States and foreign copyright laws. (...) All rights in the edX Site and its content, if not expressly granted, are reserved. (Source)
FuturelearnUnclear. Open provision of learning material is stimulated, but not enforced (Source). But the Terms of Use state: You agree not to distribute all or any part of the Website or Online Content and Courses in any medium without our prior written consent, unless such distribution is offered through the functionality of the Website and permitted by these Terms including, without limitation, under section 6.11; (Source)
KadenzeNo information to be found
Complexity ExplorerAll materials are shared under CC BY-NC-SA and are downloadable. (Source)
SwayamAll rights reserved. (Source)
UdacityNo information to be found
IndependentCourse dependent (all rights reserved; all rights reserved, but reproduction without modification is permitted)

Discussion

From the overview of access free of charge it can be deduced that there are restrictions on most of the platforms that have been viewed. These restrictions range from access to only part of the content to only access for a limited period of time.

What struck me when compiling this overview was that it is not always immediately clear what is possible free of charge. Often the various options are only shown when you register for the course. The “big 3” do offer an option to get access to (almost) all courses on the platform for a certain amount of money. This option is not always easy to find; only Futurelearn shows this option on a central place on their website.

From the overview of the availability of the learning materials under an open license, it can be deduced that there is a wide variety of options, often even course-dependent within a platform. This variety ranges from no statements to all rights reserved to available under an open license. A number of platforms (e.g. Coursera) allow the content to be downloaded for personal use without stating which open license is valid. Especially when access free of charge to the course is limited in time, this download option allows learners to have longer access to the course materials, albeit separately (usually videos) and not in the context offered by the course. For example, interactivity in the learning materials will then be lost.

A quick check on a few other platforms from the overview of MOOC platforms shows that the diversity of characteristics 2 and 3 of openness in particular is even larger. For example, in a tweet (in Dutch) Willem van Valkenburg (Delft University of Technology) indicated that all learning materials in their MOOCs are available under an open license and all MOOCs are archived on their Open Courseware site.

As a learner, if there is a choice between courses offered by different providers, it is worthwhile exploring the possibilities that each course offer, if necessary by registering for that course (registration is always free of charge and can be terminated when the possible cost options are shown).

The Complexity Explorer is the most open of all platforms I have looked at. It offers free, unrestricted access to a large part of their course offerings and shares the materials under a Creative Commons license. This platform is sponsored by the Santa Fe Institute.

What has not become clear to me is whether institutions offering courses on a platform are free to deviate from what has been formulated as the open policy of that platform and, if so, what deviations are allowed.

All in all, these experiences show that finding an open course in which the degree of openness matches with what a learner desires is not an easy matter. In my previous blog (in Dutch), I already indicated that Open Educational Resources are often (semi)products for instructors, and an open license gives them the right to share and reuse the materials. However, more is needed for education and self-study, for example: structure in the learning materials, interactivity, and feedback. Open courses can provide this, but open and access free of charge to the entire course is required at the very least. The availability of such open courses can help achieve the flexibility ambitions set out in the strategic agenda. This argues in favour of more publication of open courses with easy to find information about the degree of openness.

However, for many higher education institutions in the Netherlands (particularly the universities of applied sciences), access to existing platforms to publish their open courses is very difficult, if not impossible, for example because the “big three” mainly focus on research universities with an international focus. In addition, my study has shown that the degree of openness offered by most of the existing platforms is limited. Maintaining a platform for publishing open courses as an institution is a possibility, but it requires an investment that will probably be too high, especially for the smaller institutions. This would argue in favour of a national MOOC platform, where educational institutions (not necessarily only higher education) can publish open courses and where learners can take those courses free of charge (i.e. a platform with both a publication and a play function). Such a platform could be created using Open EdX, for example. This would be an excellent addition to the national Wikiwijs platform for open sharing and reuse of learning resources. Very recently in Europe, Austria has decided to realize such an open platform. There is no doubt that lessons can be learned from the experiences of the French national MOOC platform, FUN.

Reference

Cox, G., & Trotter, H. (2017). An OER framework, heuristic and lens: Tools for understanding lecturers’ adoption of OER. Open Praxis, 9(2), 151-171. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5944/openpraxis.9.2.571

Hoe open zijn MOOC’s nog?

In mijn vorige blog over de nieuwe strategische agenda van OCW meldde ik al het ontbreken van ambities rond Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC’s). Mijn vermoeden is dat dat komt omdat openheid van MOOC’s steeds meer lijkt te worden ingeperkt. Dat is wat mij in ieder geval opvalt als ik de mogelijkheden van een MOOC die ik in 2012 volgde vergelijk met MOOC’s die ik nu wil volgen. Om duidelijk te krijgen welke open mogelijkheden MOOC’s heden ten dage bieden aan lerenden heb ik een klein onderzoekje uitgevoerd. Achtereenvolgens ga ik dieper in op welke aspecten van “open” ik heb meegenomen, hoe het onderzoekje is uitgevoerd, welke resultaten dat opleverde en wat dat voor gevolgen kan hebben.

Karakteristieken van open

Om potentieel gebruik van een MOOC zo hoog mogelijk te maken door zowel docenten als lerenden zijn tenminste de volgende drie karakteristieken van open van belang:

  1. Open toegang: de MOOC is toegankelijk voor iedereen die dat wil
  2. Vrij van kosten: toegang tot de MOOC vereist geen betaling
  3. Open licentie: de materialen die in de MOOC worden gebruikt zijn beschikbaar onder een open licentie die aanpassing en hergebruik toestaat

In mijn onderzoekje ben ik vooral geïnteresseerd in openheid van MOOC’s voor lerenden. Voor hen zijn in eerste instantie vooral karakteristieken 1 en 2 van belang. Met name in het kader van de flexibiliteitsambities in de strategische agenda is beschikbaarheid van MOOC’s die voldoen aan karakteristieken 1 en 2 van openheid waardevol: het geeft uitgebreidere mogelijkheden invulling te geven aan flexibele leerpaden. Karakteristiek 3 zal voor lerenden weinig van belang zijn: hij of zij zal niet de behoefte hebben de rechten qua aanpassing die bij een open licentie behoren toe te passen op de gebruikte leermaterialen. Echter, verderop zal ik, gebaseerd op de resultaten van het onderzoekje, aangeven waarom in sommige gevallen de open licentie ook voor een lerende van belang kan zijn.

Opzet van het onderzoekje

Voor het onderzoekje heb ik een steekproef van 100 MOOC’s genomen. Die steekproef werd bepaald door de Top 100 courses van het platform Class Central op 1 januari 2020. In de omschrijving van Class Central zijn dit: “The highest rated online courses and MOOCs of all-time from top universities around the world. Based on thousands of reviews written by Class Central users.”

Enkele karakteristieken van deze steekproef:

  • De courses omvatten 13 vakgebieden. Humanities (15), Business (14) en Science (13) bevatten de meeste courses.
  • Wat betreft de taal van de courses: 93 Engels, 4 Spaans, 2 Italiaans en 1 Nederlands (Introduction to Dutch van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen)
  • Drie cursussen komen uit Nederland. Naast de hiervoor genoemde cursus van de RUG zijn dat Understanding the GDPR (eveneens van de RUG) en EU policy and implementation: making Europe work! (van de Universiteit Leiden)
  • De cursussen zijn beschikbaar op de platformen Coursera (43), EdX (25), Futurelearn (17), Kadenze (4), Complexity Explorer (2), Swayam (1) en Udacity (1). Van zeven cursussen wordt het platform in Class Central beschreven als Independent. Dit verwijst naar specifieke platformen van het instituut dat de cursus aanbiedt (o.a. Universiteit van Tasmanië en Universiteit van Helsinki). Class Central kent een overzicht van MOOC platformen waar meer informatie over deze en andere platformen te vinden is.
  • 91 cursussen bieden de mogelijkheid een certificaat te behalen

Zoals te zien is zijn 85 cursussen te vinden bij de “grote drie”: Coursera, EdX en Futurelearn. Deze drie platformen bieden, naast losse cursussen, ook trajecten aan die uit meerdere cursussen bestaan met een gemeenschappelijke noemer. Toegang tot die trajecten (met benamingen als MasterTrack Certificates, Degrees, MicroMasters, Microcredentials and programs) zijn geen van alle kosteloos. Ze zijn daarom niet verder in beschouwing genomen.

Resultaten

Alle cursussen voldoen aan karakteristiek 1: Open toegang (toegankelijk voor iedereen die dat wil). Dat mag ook worden verwacht bij cursussen die als “Massive” course worden aangeboden.

Wat betreft karakteristiek 2 (kosteloze toegang tot de cursus) biedt de volgende tabel een overzicht voor de platformen die in de Top 100 voorkomen. In de kolom “Ervaringen” staan aanvullingen die onder meer zijn verkregen door enkele van de cursussen die in de Top 100 staan nader te bekijken.

PlatformKosteloos beschikbaarErvaringen
CourseraHundreds of free courses give you access to on-demand video lectures, homework exercises, and community discussion forums. Paid courses provide additional quizzes and projects as well as a shareable Course Certificate upon completion. (Link)Soms wordt meer kosteloos aangeboden, zoals een interactieve programmeeromgeving bij een programmeercursus, discussieforums, peer grading, graded quizzes (multiple choice). Dat wordt echter meestal pas duidelijk na inschrijven bij de cursus.
EdXBij de cursusinformatie is te vinden:

Audit This Course (No Certificate):
Audit this course for free and have access to course materials and discussions forums. This track does not include graded assignments, or unlimited course access.
Cursusafhankelijk. Soms wordt ook een Statement of Accomplishment aangeboden als de cursus met een bepaald minimumresultaat wordt afgesloten. EdX kent ook een (betaalde) Verified Track toegang. Hierbij staat o.a. “Unlimited Course Access: Learn at your own pace, and access materials anytime to brush up on what you've learned.” Die formulering suggereert dat bij Audit de toegang tot het cursusmateriaal niet ongelimiteerd is.
FuturelearnAccess to the course for its duration + 14 days, regardless of when you join. (Link)Sommige (video) content is downloadable.
KadenzeFree: videolessen en deelname aan het discussieforum Alleen een deel van de catalogus van Kadenze kent kosteloze toegang.
Complexity ExplorerAlle elementen in de cursussen die in de Top 100 staan zijn kosteloos beschikbaar, inclusief een certificaat.Niet alle cursussen op het platform zijn volledig kosteloos beschikbaar. Na afloop worden de materialen wel kosteloos beschikbaar gesteld, maar kan er geen certificaat worden behaald.
SwayamAlle cursuselementen zijn kosteloos toegankelijk, maar geen certificaat. (Link)De meeste cursussen op het platform vermelden één of meer (niet kosteloze) boeken als leermateriaal. Het is onduidelijk of de cursus zonder aanschaf van dat boek te volgen is.
UdacityAlle cursuselementen zijn kosteloos toegankelijk en downloadable, maar geen certificaat.Soms wordt doorverwezen naar content die op de site van de aanbieder staat. Voor de cursussen die ik heb bekeken was die content ook kosteloos toegankelijk.
IndependentCursusafhankelijk, variërend van alleen kosteloze toegang tot leermaterialen tot kosteloze toegang tot alle cursuselementen en een certificaat (Certificate of completion) na afloopSoms zijn de materialen alleen tijdens de run van de cursus beschikbaar.

Wat betreft karakteristiek 3 (beschikbaar zijn van de leermaterialen onder een open licentie) biedt de volgende tabel een overzicht.

PlatformOpen licentie
Coursera You may download content from our Services only for your personal, non-commercial use, unless you obtain Coursera's written permission to otherwise use the content. (Bron)
EdX Unless indicated as being in the public domain, the content on the edX Site is protected by United States and foreign copyright laws. (…) All rights in the edX Site and its content, if not expressly granted, are reserved. (Bron)
FuturelearnOnduidelijk. Open beschikbaar stellen van leermateriaal wordt gestimuleerd, maar niet afgedwongen (Bron). Maar in de Terms staat: You agree not to distribute all or any part of the Website or Online Content and Courses in any medium without our prior written consent, unless such distribution is offered through the functionality of the Website and permitted by these Terms including, without limitation, under section 6.11; (Bron)
KadenzeGeen informatie te vinden
Complexity ExplorerAlle materialen worden gedeeld onder CC BY-NC-SA en zijn downloadable. (Bron)
SwayamAll rights reserved. (Bron)
UdacityGeen informatie te vinden
IndependentCursusafhankelijk (all rights reserved; all rights reserved, maar reproductie zonder wijzigingen is toegestaan)

Discussie

Uit het overzicht voor kosteloze toegang is te halen dat er bij de meeste platformen die zijn bekeken beperkingen bestaan. Die beperkingen variëren van slechts toegang tot een deel van de content of alleen toegang voor beperkte tijd. Wat mij bij het samenstellen van dit overzicht opviel was dat het niet altijd direct duidelijk is wat er kosteloos mogelijk is. Vaak worden de diverse opties pas getoond als je je inschrijft voor de cursus. De “grote 3” bieden wel een optie om tegen een bepaald bedrag toegang tot (bijna) alle cursussen op het platform te krijgen. Deze optie is niet altijd duidelijk te vinden; alleen Futurelearn toont die optie op een centrale plaats op hun website.

Uit het overzicht van beschikbaar zijn van de leermaterialen onder een open licentie is te halen dat er een grote verscheidenheid daarin bestaat, vaak zelfs cursusafhankelijk binnen een platform. Die variëteit loopt van geen uitspraken over te vinden via all rights reserved tot beschikbaar onder een open licentie. Een aantal platformen (w.o. Coursera) staat toe dat de content gedownload wordt voor persoonlijk gebruik zonder te vermelden welke open licentie daarbij geldig is. Met name wanneer kosteloze toegang tot de cursus in tijd beperkt is biedt deze download optie lerenden de mogelijkheid langer toegang te hebben tot de cursusmaterialen, zij het losstaand (veelal video’s) en niet in de context die door de cursus geboden wordt. Bijvoorbeeld interactiviteit in de leermaterialen zal dan verloren gaan.

Een snelle check op een paar andere platformen uit het overzicht van MOOC platformen leert dat de verscheidenheid in aanwezig zijn van met name karakteristieken 2 en 3 van openheid nog veel groter is. Als lerende loont het daarom om, wanneer er keuze is tussen cursussen van verschillende aanbieders, je te verdiepen in de mogelijkheden die iedere cursus biedt, desnoods door je in te schrijven voor die cursus (inschrijven is altijd kosteloos en kan worden afgebroken wanneer de mogelijke opties voor kosten getoond worden).

Van de door mij bekeken platformen springt de Complexity Explorer er qua openheid het beste uit. Het biedt kosteloze toegang zonder enige beperkingen tot een groot deel van hun cursusaanbod en deelt de materialen onder een Creative Commons licentie. Dit platform wordt gesponsord door het Santa Fe Institute.

Wat mij uit alle informatie niet duidelijk is geworden is of instellingen die cursussen aanbieden op een platform de vrijheid hebben om te mogen afwijken van wat als open policy geformuleerd is en, zo ja, welke afwijkingen dan zijn toegestaan.

Al met al leren deze ervaringen dat het vinden van een open cursus waarbij de mate van openheid aansluit bij wat een lerende verlangt geen eenvoudige zaak is. In mijn vorige blog gaf ik al aan dat open leermaterialen veelal (half)producten voor docenten zijn waarbij een open licentie hen het recht geeft de materialen te delen en te hergebruiken. Voor onderwijs en zelfstudie is meer nodig, zoals: structuur in de leermaterialen, interactiviteit en feedback. Open cursussen kunnen hiervoor zorgen, maar dan is wel tenminste open en kosteloze toegang tot de gehele cursus nodig. De beschikbaarheid van dergelijke open cursussen kan bijdragen aan het realiseren van de flexibiliteitsambities die in de strategische agenda van OCW benoemd staat. Dat pleit voor meer publiceren van open cursussen.

Voor veel hogeronderwijsinstellingen in Nederland (met name de hbo-instellingen) is toegang tot bestaande platformen om hun open cursussen te publiceren echter erg lastig, zo niet onmogelijk, bijvoorbeeld omdat de “grote drie” zich vooral richten op researchuniversiteiten met een internationale focus. Daarbij heeft mijn onderzoekje laten zien dat de mate van openheid bij de meeste van de bestaande platformen niet de meest gewenste is. Zelf als instelling een platform onderhouden voor het publiceren van open cursussen is een mogelijkheid, maar dat vereist een investering die voor met name de kleinere instellingen vermoedelijk te hoog zal zijn. Dit zou pleiten voor een nationaal MOOC platform, waarop onderwijsinstellingen (niet noodzakelijk alleen hoger onderwijs) open cursussen kunnen publiceren en waar lerenden die cursussen kosteloos kunnen volgen (dus een platform met zowel een publicatie- als een afspeelfunctie). Een dergelijk platform zou bijvoorbeeld kunnen worden gerealiseerd met Open EdX. Zo’n platform zou een mooie aanvulling zijn van het nationale platform Wikiwijs voor open delen en hergebruiken van leermaterialen. Hierbij kan ongetwijfeld geleerd worden van ervaringen van het Franse nationale MOOC-platform FUN.